Straight outta Bainbridge: 'Getting to Scale'

As Edward Abbey once proclaimed, “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” While economic success is commonly measured by “expansions” of GDP and “consumer confidence,” there are some walking the planet who value business success differently.

Writer Jill Bamburg, who is also MBA program director at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Bainbridge Island, Wash. , fits squarely into that category. The first question she recommends to mission-driven entrepreneurs is, “How do you define success?”

For the profit-only driven business, success can be safely broken down as follows: grow the business to grow profits, and hence, return on investment for shareholders. Heck, while you’re at it, grow fast and furious, and party like it’s 1999.

Well, as with any good party, there’s inevitably a price to pay. In 2000, Ben & Jerry’s was sold off to Unilever (NYSE: UN) with a decision cast by public shareholders in the interest of “growth.” Consequently, the famous founders were kicked to the curb, and with them their socially responsible vision. So what happened? How could this have been avoided? Is it possible for a so-called “double-bottomline” business to “get to scale” without being swallowed up by a malignant multinational?

With these types of questions at hand, Bamburg has compiled a “how-to” guide full of examples and case studies for the sustainable or social-minded entrepreneur. It’s not only a good read for entrepreneurs, but for anyone generally interested in the challenges that lie ahead for leaders of the new economy.

Armed with some refreshing humility, the author states, “When it comes to thinking about how to grow a business, I have a double learning disability: an MBA from Stanford and about 10 years of working in the computer software industry. Both of those experiences give me a distorted view of reality: too much pressure to ‘get big fast.’”

On the flip side of the coin, readers may feel a bit overwhelmed by the “mission comes first” idea that is repeated throughout book. A business can have the best product in the world or the coolest mission in the galaxy, but without turning a buck, it’s all for naught.

So what is the key to getting a mission-driven business to scale? As alluded to in the subtitle, the first priority is keeping both hands on the wheel. Yeah, as in “don’t sell out.”

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